


Tire Fire

by Thatoneloser_kid



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F, business Woman!lexa, mechanic!clarke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 08:52:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12362112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatoneloser_kid/pseuds/Thatoneloser_kid
Summary: She was beautiful, long, brown hair and dressed in a nice pair grey suit trousers and a green shirt that had the top three buttons undone. She looked unkempt but still entirely professional.Then Clarke remembers that she was dressed in her overalls, which were tied around there waist, a filthy grey tee, anther hair was probably all over the place and her face was probably covered in grease and oil.





	Tire Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think, either here or on tumblr thatoneloser-kid.tumblr.com 
> 
> Thank you and I hope you like it : )

Clarke wasn't necessarily hiding when Raven found her, she just liked to spend a little more time than she needed under whatever car she was working on. It was nice to have a little peace for a while.

"Griff, we have a new car coming in." Raven said, kicking her legs. "Just packed in on the high way, there was smoke and everything."

"And you can't take care of it, why?" Clarke questioned, sliding out from under the car. She whipped her hands on her light grey tee as she stood.

"I'm going to the ice hockey with Octavia and Bellamy tonight. Besides, this is your place, you get the jobs that come in super late."

"Whatever," Clarke waved Raven off, lowering the car she was just under. "Take off, then."

"Cool, see you tomorrow." Raven bounced out of the garage and Clarke rolled her eyes, hoping into the car and driving it out to the car park where all the fixed cars were sitting.

Clarke had just finished packing all of her tools away when the tow truck pulled up outside, a grinning Octavia hopping out. “Clarke, how are you?”

“I’ve been working for twelve hours straight and now I have to do this job. How do you think I am?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, you don’t have to do it tonight.” A voice behind Octavia said, making Clarke peer around her.

Clarke only barely stopped herself from audibly gasping when her eyes landed on the girl standing there. She was beautiful, long, brown hair and dressed in a nice pair grey suit trousers and a green shirt that had the top three buttons undone. She looked unkempt but still entirely professional.

Then Clarke remembers that she was dressed in her overalls, which were tied around there waist, a filthy grey tee, anther hair was probably all over the place and her face was probably covered in grease and oil.

She must have been gawping because when she looked back at Octavia she was smirking.

“No, uh, its fine. Depending on what it is I might not be able to get it done tonight, but I will have a look.” Clarke offered a tight lipped smile.

“Are you sure? I don’t mind crashing at Octavia's until it is finish. I can call and cancel all of my meeting for tomorrow."

"Lower the car in that space, O." Clarke motioned to the relatively free section in the car park, where all the still to be worked on cars sat.

"Sure thing." Octavia hopped back into the truck.

"Thank you for this, really."

"It's kind of my job," Clarke shrugged. "So, what colour was the smoke?"

"White, completely obscured my vision, I'm surprised I made it to the side of the road."

"And what happened when it stopped running? Did it rattle or did the clutch pop back at you? How has she been running?"

"It spluttered a bit, and it is not nearly as powerful as it used to be."

"Sounds like a bad fuel pump, but the smoke sounds like it is actually down to your engine overheating, which means your coolant faulty, too."

"Are they easy fixes?"

"Relatively so, yeah. I can have it done by midnight." Clarke hummed, catching the keys Octavia threw at her.

"She's all yours, Griff." She said, turning to look at the girl. "You need a place to stay, Lexa?"

"I don't think so," Lexa glanced at Clarke. "She said she could have it done by midnight."

"If it is what I think it is," Clarke clarified.

"Okay, call me if you need a place. I can come pick you up."

"Okay," Lexa agreed, giving Octavia a little smile. "Thank you for this, Octavia."

Octavia left after that and Clarke went to grab her tool box.

"I would have thought an expensive car like this, you would have taken it into a large chain mechanic." Clarke commented, reaching inside and popping the hood, latching it in place and bending at the waist to look inside the car.

"I like to support local businesses." Lexa shrugged, rolling her eyes when Clarke cocked a suspicious eyebrow at her. "I've known Octavia since high school, she came to pick me up and recommended you. She said you were the best in the trade."

That actually made Clarke's heart swell a little, that Octavia would say that about her. At leat someone seems proud of her, her doctor mother and lawyer stepfather certainly weren't.

"There is tea or coffee inside if you wantone while you wait," Clarke offered.

"Im good for now, thanks.” Lexa assured and Clarke glanced back at her, frowning a little when Lexa quickly looked away. Clarke had no idea what Lexa was staring at but judging by the almost shameful look Lexa was wearing it was probably somewhere she shouldn’t have been.

Clarke shook her head and turned back to the car. If this had been a guy she probably would've been a little freaked out, at least if it was a guy she usually gets around here, but she couldn't help but be a little smug that this woman, business woman who is obviously more posh and polished than Clarke and all of her friends combined, was checking her out.

She remembered what Raven said one day when they had a business man in, wearing a suit more expensive than Raven's car.

("Posh people like a bit of rough, Griff. And that's us, we are the bit of rough.")

Clarke didn't agree, why would any one in this right mind, posh or not, be attracted to a filthy person covering in motor oil and smelling like a tire fire.

Clarke poked around for a little bit, acutely aware of this woman's eyes boring into her the entire time.

"Okay," Clarke hummed, straightening and turning to Lexa. "It is your fuel pump and you need your coolant topped up."

"Can you fix it?"

"Yeah, I will go get the parts I need and I will get started."

Clarke got everything she needed, setting up her lights and disappearing into the car.

"Octavia was saying you own this place," Lexa commented. "You don't look old enough to own your own garage."

"Banks are surprisingly willing to give you a loan if you finished top of your class at MIT."

"What did you study?"

"Engineering," Clarke answered. "Minor in astrophysics."

"Wow,"

Clarke straightened, wiping her hands on the torso of her tee and dropped Lexa's old fuel pump into a box beside her.

"What do you do?"

"CEO, and founder is suppose, at a pharmaceutical company. Polis Pharmaceutical."

Clarke's eyebrows raised, impressed by the woman's accomplishments. "You've created business of that caliber by your mid twenties?"

"I'm actually pushing thirty, but thank you."

Clarke just nodded, she was impressed, for anyone to create any buisness by the age of thirty, especially one like pharmaceutical, was impressive. "Have you been here long?"

"I'm expanding, and where better than New York."

Clarke nodded, leaning back against Lexa's car and giving the new fuel pump a little clean. She tried to keep her eyes focused on the part but she could feel Lexa staring at her so she lifted her eyes, forcing herself to seem unaffected, even if her heart was rattling in her chest. Clarke arched a questioning eyebrow. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"Yeah, everything you would expect to be on a grease monkeys face."

"Wow, insulting the person fixing your car? Smart move."

"That wasn't an insult."

Oh. Of course it wasn't, this girl was flirting with her. Badly, but she was trying.

"Are you flirting with me?" Clarke tilted her head a little to the left, trying to seem nonchalant but how could she, this beautiful woman was standing in front of her, flirting with her even when Clarke looked a mess and had been on a twelve hour shift.

"Maybe,"

"Well, you're terrible at it." Clarke said with a little eye roll, turning her attention back to the part in her hands. "And I won't give you a discount if your flutter your pretty little eyes at me."

"Really? Octavia said you would."

"She what?" Clarke's head snapped up to Lexa again, who was sporting an adorable little smirk. "Good one, loser."

Clarke tried to look fed up or bothered by Lexa but the little smile she had on her lips told a completely different story. She turned back to the car to hide her smile.

"So," Lexa started, moving to stand beside the car as Clarke set about replacing her fuel pump. "You think my eyes are pretty, huh?"

"I think you know your eyes are pretty." Clarke glanced up at Lexa and there was... something. Something Clarke wanted to ask about, but she didn't, because they didn't know each other all that well.

“Do you want coffee?” Lexa offered, motioning toward the building.

“Sure, yeah, this shouldn’t take me any more than ten minutes.” Clarke calls over head shoulder, her upper body disappearing into the car.

“What do you take?”

“Just black,” Clarke answered, her shoulder muscles flexing as she undone one of the bolts. “No sugar, I’m sweet enough.” She said in a flat voice.

Lexa laughed quietly, disappeared inside, and Clarke watched her go, her eyes lingering on Lexa’s ass for a few seconds before scolding herself for being such a stereotype.

The machine was temperamental so Lexa took almost ten minutes to make them both coffee. She huffed as Clarke dropped the hood of the car, wiping her hands on the towel she had in her back pocket before throwing it over her shoulder.

“That coffee machine.”

“You don’t gotta tell me,” Clarke agreed, accepting the coffee with a thank you.

“All done?” Lexa asked, sitting up on the hook of her car.

“For the most part, I want to have a little poke around, make sure there wasn’t any kind of knock on effect.”

“Okay,”

"Coffee, a broken engine and the smell of motor oil, you sure know how to woo a lady.” Clarke murmured sarcastically as she took a seat on the hood of Lexa's car beside Lexa.

“I thought this would be your jam, being a grease monkey and all.” Lexa commented with a little grin.

“Well, I didn’t think the prim and proper business woman would consider drinking gross coffee with an even grosser grease monkey in a filthy garage.” Clarke shot back.

“You know nothing about me.” Lexa said, taking a drink of her coffee, side eyeing Clarke.

“And you know nothing about me.”

The corner of Lexa's lip pulled up into a little flirtatious grin. “Maybe we should change that.”

“Wow, the seventies called, they want their chat up line back.”

“The nineties called, they want their insult back.” Lexa arched a playful eyebrow at her and Clarke couldn’t help but smile, though she threw in a little eye roll.

“Touché.”

Lexa grinned smugly. "So, tell me about yourself?"

"There really isn't all that much to tell." Clarke shrugged.

"You apparently like your coffee bitter.”

Clarke rolled her eyes, taking another drink of coffee. "What about you? Tell me something about you."

"Nu huh," Lexa shook her head. "You're not getting off that easy. Tell me one thing about your childhood."

"Oh, bit of a risky question. I could have had a horrific childhood." Clarke grinned cheekily at Lexa.

"Well, did you?" Lexa arched an eyebrow.

"Nah, it wasn't all that awful." Clarke shrugged, rolling her eyes when Lexa looked at her expectantly. "Fine. I was practically raised by babysitters, different one every other week, mom and dad worked ridiculous hours, doctor and engineer."

"Oh, that must've sucked."

"At first, sure." Clarke hummed. "But after a while I actually grew to like it."

"That must have been lonely, thought."

"You get used to it." Clarke shrugged. "Now you,"

"I was a hockey player in high school."

"Wow," Clarke laughed. "I wish I could say I'm surprised but I am really not."

"Why?" Lexa frowned defensively.

"Oh, come on. You scream high school athlete."

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You should,” Clarke hummed. “You’re one of the few high school athletes who didn’t peak in high school.”

“I peaked at hockey,”

“But not at smarts, apparently.” Clarke offered a little grin. “Miss I’m-a-millionaire-before-I’m-thirty.”

Lexa rolled her eyes, draining the remained of her coffee. “I got lucky.”

“Yeah, luck is part of it, but if you didn’t have the brains for both pharmaceuticals and business you don’t get anywhere.”

“I suppose.”

Clarke finished off her coffee and slid off the hood of the car, dropping the cups into the recycling bin.

“Okay, I’m gonna have a look at this car then you can get on your way.”

Lexa slid off the car and Clarke popped it again, disappearing into the car. It took her around ten minutes to have a look around before deeming it okay to drive.

“Okay,” Clarke dropped the hood and took a step back, haphazardly wiping her hands before scratching her forehead. “Your oxygen sensor is a little worn but that isn’t something that needs fixed right now, but it will within the next half a year.”

“Okay, I’ll get that fixed soon.” Lexa hummed, searching for her bank card. “How much do I owe you?”

“Thirty dollars,” Clarke said. “Friends and family discount.”

“I’m neither.”

“But Octavia is, and your company wasn’t half bad.” Clarke shrugged, leading Lexa inside. Clarke got behind the front desk and typed in what Lexa got done and how much she owed.

She handed Lexa the card machine, watching the girl as she inserted the card, her long fingers dancing across the key pad to put in her pin number. She was beautiful, though she did look tired.

She almost startled when Lexa looked back at her, offering the machine back to Clarke.

“Cool, i’ll just get you a receipt.”

“Are you heading home after this?”

“Yeah,” Clarke hummed, holding her hand impatiently at the opening of the printer. “I’m exhausted, I’ll be surprised if I make it past my sofa.”

“Are you in tomorrow?”

“Yeah, but just for closing.” Clarke pulled the receipt out of the printer and handed it off to Lexa.

“It sucks running your own business sometimes.” Lexa headed toward the door as Clarke rounded the counter to walk her out.

"Do you live far?" Clarke asked as she walked Lexa to her car.

"I'm still living in Boston right now."

"Jeez, why don't you just crash at Octavia's or something?"

"I think I might."

"Do you know where she lives?"

"I was supposed to go over today but I got caught up with meetings."

"Okay, why don't you call her and I will take you there." Clarke suggested.

"You don't have to,"

"Her house is just before mine, anyway." Clarke shrugged, heading back toward the garage. "Just let me lock up."

Clarke grabbed her keys and helmet, slipping on her leather riding jacket before locking up the garage.

"She said I..." Lexa trailed off when she turned to face Clarke, her eyes running down the length of Clarke's body. "Uh,"

"She said?" Clarke prompted, and Lexa's eyes snapped up to her (Clarke thought maybe she was blushing? But it was dark so she couldn't really be sure).

"To just come over," Lexa answered, sliding her phone into her pocket as she turned back to her car.

"Cool," Clarke headed over to her green triumph Scrambler bike, throwing her leg over and turning to look at Lexa, who was watching her attentively. "You good to just follow me?"

"Sure, yeah." Lena agreed, pointing back at her car. "I will just..."

"Okay," Clarke grinned, kicking her bike into action and pulling on her helmet, fixing the clip under her chin. "You can hop on the back with me, princess, come get your car tomorrow, if you're too... distracted to drive."

Lexa didn't turned back to Clarke, she just flipped her off over her shoulder, making Clarke laugh.

Clarke drove slower than she usually would, leading Lexa to Octavia and Raven's shared apartment.

She pulled her helmet off and cut off the engine when Lexa made her way over to her.

"Thank you for this, I know you stayed way past closing time."

"It was no problem," Clarke smiled, resting her helmet on the fuel tank between her legs and resting her forearms on it. "It was an easy fix, it would have been dumb to leave it until tomorrow."

Lexa nodded, motioning toward Clarke's bike. "Maybe you could take me for a ride some time." She smiled flirtatiously at Clarke.

"If you're lucky." Clarke grinned playfully.

Lexa laughed and nodded. "If I'm lucky," she hummed, back-peddling toward Octavia's apartment door. "Goodnight, grease monkey."

"Night, loser."

Lexa smiled and nodded, spinning on the balls of her feet and strutting into the building.

Clarke watched her go, smiling and shaking her head at the business woman.

She glanced up at Octavia's window, narrowing her eyes when she spotted the girl grinning down at her. She flipped her off when she made kissy faces at her, starting up her back again and heading home.

\--

“So,” Raven announced as she entered the garage, her overalls zipped up fully and her bag hanging off her shoulder. “I heard you had a visitor last night.”

Clarke rolled her eyes, not bothering to look up from the engine component she was cleaning. “Whatever Octavia said isn’t true.”

“So you didn’t stare longingly at a pretty business woman as she walked away after you took her home?” Raven grinned, throwing her bag into her locker.

“Yes, to everything but the longingly part.”

“She’s hot, Clarke.” Raven said, sliding onto the desk Trini was sitting near. “Ex-athlete too, bet she is very flexible.”

“Dude,” Clarke huffed. “Just because you’re a mechanic doesn’t mean you have to live up to the stereotype of one.”

Raven just laugh, pulling her long hair up into a bun and rolled up the sleeves of her overall. “I have a paint job and decal to do.” She grabbed her mask and headed for the painting booth in the back. “But I wanna hear all about Lexa when I’m waiting for the paint to dry.”

Clarke rolled her eyes, flipping Raven off before getting back to her work.

She made a point of being out of the shop when Raven was finished the first lair of paint, she was lucky there was a call out so she didn’t need to spend an excessive amount of time in the local starbucks that was full of obnoxious New Yorkers and students.

She fixed up the car and headed back to the garage, rolled her eyes when she pulled up outside and Raven and Bellamy were there sunbathing, Raven with her overalls ties around her waist, leaving her in a white vest top and Bellamy topless, using a mirror as a reflector. They were lying in the bed of Bellamy's pickup.

“Hiring you two was a mistake.” Clarke grumbled as she walked past them.

“I’m waiting on paint to dry and there are no cars to work on.” Raven answered easily.

“I’m waiting on parts.” Bellamy added.

Clarke huffed, hooking the keys to the truck up and headed out to the pickup, sliding up to side beside her friends.

“So,” Raven started.

“I will fire you,” Clarke said without looking at her, but she just knew Raven, and probably Bellamy, were smirking.

“We just wanna talk about Mrs Grey,” Bellamy grinned. “She looked so sexy, and that was her a little messy from trying to fix her car.”

“I don’t want to sit here and talk about girls.”

“Good thing we are talking about a girl then.” Raven shot back. “You like her?”

“I don’t know her,” Clarke shrugged.

“What’d you guys do, anyway” Raven asked.

“I fixed her car. we had coffee and then I took her to your place place.”

“Sounds like a date to me,” Bellamy said in a singsong voice.

“Oh, shut up,” Clarke grumbled, punching Bellamy's leg before turning to Raven. "That has been loads of time for the paint to dry, go do your job.”

“Fine,” Raven grumbled, sliding off the pickup and murmuring as she walked, Clarke was sure she heard something about slave labour.

“And you,” Clarke said and Bellamy immediately perked up. “Take inventory.”

“Yes, cap’in.” Bellamy saluted her, bounding off to do as he was told.

Raven groaned as she reclined back, stretching out her limbs.

“Lexa was talking about at breakfast this morning."

Clarke startled at the voice, knocking her knee against the side of the bed of the pickup. “Fuck me,” She grumbled, sitting up and glaring at Octavia. “Why the fuck are you sneaking around?”

“I wasn’t” Octavia laughed, jumping up beside Clarke. “As I was saying.”

“Please, don’t. I’ve had it off of your girlfriend and your brother all morning.”

“I’m just saying, she was asking about you.” Octavia shrugged. “She’s moving here in a couple of weeks, some posh pent house in downtown Manhattan.” Octavia rolled his eyes playfully. “Millionaires.”

Clarke smiled at the teasing tone.

“She’s nice, though. A really caring woman, and she’s sweet, funny.”

“Octavia, stop.” Clarke laughed. “You sound like her dating profile. I don’t want to start dating anyone, and she is just expanding her business to the most cut throat city in the world, she probably isn’t on the dating market either.”

“Fine, fine,” Octavia held up her hands in resignation. “But you can’t put your dating life on hold forever.”

Clarke groaned, “Why is it always you who wants have these deep, meaningful conversations?”

“‘Cause those two in there are equally as fucked up as you and no one else wants to push.” Octavia grinned. “Your mom has no control over you here.”

“I have work to do,” Clarke grumbled, sliding to her feet.

“I just want you to be happy, Clarke."

“I have a booming business, great friends and you.” Clarke turned to look at Octavia, smirking at him as she back paddled toward the building. “I couldn’t be happier.”

“Lying gives you bad skin,” Octavia called after her as she disappeared into the garage.

—

She kept her head down for the next week, fixing up whatever cars came in during the day, spending the afternoon going through the books and numbers, then she went home to sleep. Lexa has crossed her mind a few times but Clarke shook the thought away before they could become anything serious.

She was on her ninth day of that routine when Lexa showed up at the garage again.

Clarke was hunched over her books, going through her earning, what was due out for the mortgage and wages.

"You work too much."

Clarke startled at the voice, her head wiping around to see her who was there.

Lexa smiled, leaning her shoulder against the doorway.

She was dressed in a pair of teal slacks and a white shirt. The shirt was tucked in and fully buttoned.

"I own a business, it's hard work."

"Don't have to tell me," Lexa said, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder. "My break light is out."

"And you drove all the way from Boston to come see me?" Clarke arched an eyebrow at Lexa, who shrugged.

"I was in the neighbourhood,"

"Sure," Clarke grinned, pushing herself up. "I'll go grab a bulb and I'll get it fixed for you."

Clarke grabbed a bulb and her tool, heading out to Lexa's car.

"So, how has your day been?" Lexa asked as Clarke set up her stand light to face the car.

"Fine," Clarke shrugged. "Few cars, mostly paperwork. You?"

"I've move most of my stuff to my new place."

"When are you moving in?" Clarke asked, holding her screwdriver in between her teeth.

"Two days, which is exciting." Lexa smiled. "Have you eaten? I can go get us a pizza or something."

Clarke smiled around the screwdriver, plucking it from her mouth to speak. "I haven't eaten since breakfast."

"That's not healthy,"

Clarke shrugged, prying of the cover of the light. "It was busy and Raven was off."

"Okay, I'll order us in a pizza."

"That's not healthy," Clarke smirked over at Lexa who rolled her eyes.

"In moderation everything is healthy."

"Sure," Clarke hummed, fishing out her phone and throwing it at Lexa. "5128."

Lena put in their order, handing Clarke back her phone.

"I see why you come here, you get fantastically gross coffee and pizza when you're here."

"You got me," Lexa grinned, holding her hands up. "Plus, the company isn't half bad."

"Is you using terrible pick up lines going to be a theme, too?"

"If you're lucky," Lexa grinned.

Clarke finished the lightbulb change before the pizza got to them, grinning triumphantly at Lexa.

"You better not have botched that because you were trying to beat the pizza boy," Lexa warned playfully.

"As if," Clarke scoffed. "I could build a viable rocket in a few weeks, with one arm tied behind my back. A car is child's play."

“Cocky,” Lexa teased.

“Confident in my abilities.” Clarke corrected.

“Then why aren’t you?”

“I have my reasons.” Clarke hummed.

“That I assume you won’t be telling me?”

“It’s not really all that important,” Clarke shrugged. “How’s the apartment looking?”

“Great, the view is incredible,”

“I bet,” Clarke took a bite of her pizza. “Must have cost a fortune.”

“I don’t- I didn’t choose it.”

“Oh? Boyfriend?”

“Girlfriend,” Lexa corrected, which had Clarke deflating a little. “And no, I don’t have one.”

This made Clarke frowned. “What?”

“I’m into women, but I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Oh, okay.” Clarke nodded, a little feeling bubbling in her chest that she immediately pushed down. “So, who picked it?”

“My sister, I didn’t have time so she dealt with everything.”

Clarke nodded, so Lexa had a sister. “Do you have any other siblings?”

“A brother, Lincoln. Anya is my sister.”

Clarke hummed around her pizza. “Where’d you grow up?”

“A small down in northern British Columbia.”

“Cold, than?”

“Ridiculously so,” Lexa hummed, a little smile appearing on her lips. “It was nice, though. My mom would take us outside in the winter, all wrapped up and with hot water bottles under it clothes and we would go up the hill in out back yard and just look up.”

There was a softness in Lexa’s face that took Clarke a little by surprise, but she found herself smiling along.

“It’s very rare to find anything as beautiful as the cosmos. The stars, the colours, that almost cloudiness of the Milky Way.” Lexa smiled down at the pizza in her hand shaking her head lightly. “And, god, the northern lights.” She sighed, almost seeming content at even the thought of them. Clarke found herself just staring, surprised by the openness but completely enthralled in wanting to learn more. “You have to see them for yourself to really understand, no words will ever describe how incredible they are.”

“Hopefully I can,”

Lexa seemed to snap out of her daze when Clarke spoke, shaking her head and Clarke almost felt like she got whiplash at the sudden change in her. Lexa’s walls seemed to slam closed again and she chuckled nervously. “Sorry,”

“No, don’t be.” Clarke shuffled forward a little. “What about now? Do you still do it when you’re home?”

“This is home,”

“Well, when you visit?”

“I don’t.” Lexa shrugged. “My mom died when I was a kid, we still have the property but I just can’t bring myself to go back.”

“Oh, shit, dude. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Lexa shrugged. “Well, it’s not, it was preventable, but it’s been twenty years.”

“Does it get any easier?” Clarke asked.

“Easier? Yes, but not because it hurts any less, you just learn how to deal with the pain.” Lexa offered, watching Clarke carefully. “You lost someone?”

“My father,” Clarke said, “eleven months and two weeks ago.”

“For me the first year was the hardest,” Lexa admitted softly. “The firsts. The first birthday without her, first Christmas, new year, those are the things that killed me.”

“I can’t stop counting. It’s like the first thing in my mind when I wake up is how long it has been.”

“People cope differently. Me? I watched old videos and hid myself away in my room in the orphanage. I was the only one there, Lincoln and Anya were over eighteen, I was only fifteen.”

“Did they stay close by?”

“Yeah, we ran off a few times but I was always brought back, and my siblings were almost charged with kidnapping of a minor.” Lexa laughed. “I wish I could tell you some bullshit of times heals all wounds but it doesn’t. This is going to hurt for the rest of your life, there’s always going to be that hole just for him but you learn to deal, you learn that loving other people, even if only temporarily, can patch up the hole the tiniest bit, and sometimes that’s just enough.”

Clarke felt... something pull in her chest, hope, maybe? That she wouldn’t been in this constant pain over her father.

Octavia pulled up before Clarke could reply, hoping out of her truck and staring down at her phone.

“Got something good for you Griffindork.” She called. “Really mystery, no one know what it was-“ Octavia trailed off when she finally looked up and spotted Clarke and Lexa sharing a pizza. “That packed in. What’s going on?”

“Lexa’s break light was out, I fixed it.”

“And shared a pizza?”

Clarke rolled her eyes, getting up and snatching the keys from Octavia as she walked by. “Give me ten minutes and I’ll tell you what’s up.”

Sure enough, after five minutes Clarke entered the garage, holding up a hunk of metal. “Alternator is shot, I’ll need to install a new one.”

“Really? You found it that fast.”

“She’s a literal rocket scientist, I’m not surprised.” Octavia laughed, getting up and grabbing the keys. “I’ll call the guy, see if he wants it fixed or not.”

“They was impressive.”

“Oh, don’t be impressed. There was probably a few testosterone filled, lowly educated men trying to figure it out. It was an easy find.”

“Find, downplay it, but Octavia obviously thinks a lot of you, how often she brings you up. I tell you, if she wasn’t with Raven I’d think she liked you.” Lexa said as she got up.

“Nah, Octavia and I are better as friends, we tried the relationship thing, it was weird.”

“What did Raven think of that?”

“It was never really an issue. Octavia and I dated briefly for a few months, it fizzled out pretty quickly. We had an emotional connection but it was never really a sexual attraction. Like, sure, Octavia is hot, like Greek goddess hot, and I could sleep with her very easily but we didn’t have a sexual connection, you know?”

“Yeah, I get you.” Lexa hummed. “I need to get going, thank you for the pizza.”

“Thank you for the company.” Clarke smiled, opening the door to Lexa’s car for her to get it.

Lexa rolled her eyes playfully. “A gentlemanly mechanic?”

Clarke grinned. “Good luck with moving day, Lexa.” Clarke closed the door and moved over to Octavia’s truck, where Octavia was sitting, a little grin on her lips. “What?”

“Nothing,” Octavia looked almost smug as she dropped down from the drivers side of the truck.

“Tell you face that.”

“She’s nice, right?”

“She’s okay,” Clarke hummed, heading into the back to find the parts to fix the car Octavia had brought in.

“And she’s hot.” Octavia followed Clarke back out to the car.

“She’s okay,”

“Fuck off, you can say her personality is okay, which is a lie, by the way, Lexa is great, but you cannot say her looks are okay.”

“Octavia,” Clarke sighed, turning to the woman abruptly, causing her to skid to a halt. “Lay off.”

“Fine, it’s just something to think about.”

“No,” Clarke answered in a tone that gave Octavia no room to argue.

“Fine.” Octavia huffed. “The guys coming by before closing to get the car.”

Clarke hummed in acknowledgement as she lifted the hood of the car.


End file.
